The Defence Headquarters has confirmed the deaths of 22 soldiers and 70 insurgents during an ongoing military operation in the Timbuktu Triangle, a notorious terrorist stronghold in Borno State.
The operation, conducted by troops of Operation Hadin Kai, began on January 16, 2025, and has focused on dismantling insurgents enclaves in the region.
Maj. Gen. Edward Buba, Director of Defence Media Operations, revealed this in a statement on Sunday.
Buba claimed that three high-ranking insurgent commanders were killed: Talha, the insurgents special forces commander; Mallam Umar, the operations commander; and Abu Yazeed, the brigade commander.
He said, “Troops of Operation HADIN KAI in the Northeast of the country conducted a clearance operation to a renowned terrorist stronghold and enclave known as the Timbuktu Triangle. The three-prong operation aimed at dismantling the terrorist presence within the triangle commenced on 16 Jan 25 and continues to date.
“Troops recorded several encounters with terrorists during the course of the clearance operations, which resulted in over 70 terrorist combatants, including three notable terrorist commanders, neutralised. The terrorist commanders neutralised include and are not limited to the following: TALHA (Terrorist Special Forces Commander), Mallam UMAR (Terrorist Operations Commander), and ABU YAZEED (Terrorist Brigade Commander).“
Buba stated that during the operations, the insurgents used a variety of lethal tactics, including improvised explosive devices, suicide bombers, and drones.
However, he said that troops effectively resisted these attempts, proving tactical supremacy.
Buba said, “Meanwhile, during the operations, the terrorist deployed improvised explosive devices, person-borne improvised explosive devices (suicide bombers), as well as vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices (suicide bombers in explosive vehicles) to ward off troop advances and attacks.
“Troops already familiar with the terrorist tactics thwarted several terrorist attempts, including shooting down the amateur drones used by the terrorist.”
Buba, although lamenting the loss of 22 soldiers, urged caution from the media in revealing the identities of dead personnel to allow proper notification of their families.
He said, “Overall, during the course of the operations, troops sadly recorded 22 killed in action casualties with several others wounded in action. On this account, the media is enjoined to resist publishing names of troop casualties to allow the formal notification of their next of kin.”
